Community impact

ghSMART is proud to make a difference in our community

We are honored to serve a number of non-profit organizations on some of their most important leadership challenges. Some examples include:

Atul Gawande and Ariadne Labs

Atul Gawande and Ariadne Labs. Since 2011, ghSMART has been an active supporter of Atul Gawande, surgeon, writer, public health professional and founder of Ariadne Labs, a joint institution of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Gawande and his team exist to save a million patients from suffering and harm due to health system failure. Ariadne Labs focuses on providing scalable solutions that produce better care at the most critical moments in people’s lives – producing better outcomes, less waste of resources, and more caring around the world.

If Dr. Gawande’s name sounds familiar, it is because you may have read him in the New Yorker, read of one his award winning books (such as the The Checklist Manifesto) or seen him on Sunday morning talk shows or The Colbert Report. Bill Gates named Dr. Gawande’s TED talk as one of his all-time favorites.

We have been privileged to help Dr. Gawande in hiring and developing his leadership team and ensuring that Ariadne Labs is well positioned to deliver on its mission.

KIPP – Knowledge is Power Program

Since 2011, we have worked with KIPP – Knowledge is Power Program. Profiled on Oprah and featured in countless books including the best selling memoir Work Hard, Be Nice, KIPP is the largest charter school operator in the country and has wrestled with issues of leadership selection and succession as they have scaled. We have supported founders Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg as they have brought in leaders to help deliver on their mission and to propel the culture forward. We have also trained dozens of their field staff on how best to hire and evaluate principals and teachers, helping create a shared language for excellence in education leadership as they continue to grow. As Dave Levin told us, “I’ve fallen in love with the A method of hiring over the last several years, and when I train people on hiring, I train them on the A Method.”

Success Academy

Since 2009, we have supported Success Academy, the highest performing charter school in New York State. The founder, Eva Moskowitz, an educator, NYC elected official, and Harlem public school parent had a vision to help economically underprivileged children achieve the same results as their middle class peers. And her organization has delivered. Success Academy has grown from four schools to 32 in the time we have worked together. We have partnered with the Board and the CEO to align management around key priorities and to bring greater rigor and efficiency to the challenge of hiring the right principals and teachers.